A Tale of Krillian's Past
by Blackchaosdragon
Summary: A conversation between Master Roshi and Marron reveals a secret of Krillian's past.


I do not own Dragonball Z. It would be sweet if I did.  
  
I just could not get this story out of my head, it even stopped me from continuing my other story, The Old Master's Story. If you have the time check that one out, I'd appreciate that a lot.  
  
A Tale of Krillian's Past  
  
"It just isn't fair!" Marron said as she slammed her books down on the kitchen table.  
  
"What isn't fair, Marron?" Turtle said as he crawled into the kitchen.  
  
"Mommy and Daddy refuse to teach me any of the martial arts! I could really use them! You see there is the mean girl at school, Vicky, and she's always pushing me and my friends around, just because she is bigger than us. Today she ripped my favorite notebook right in half! And she did it just to be mean! I want back at her so bad! GRR! I HATE HER!" Marron growled.  
  
"That is one reason your mother and father never taught you any martial arts! You are too quick to anger!"  
  
Marron and Turtle turned around to see the disapproving look on Master Roshi's face as he entered the kitchen, Turtle choose that moment to leave.  
  
Marron looked down at the table, a slight ashamed blush on her cheeks. "I..I'm sorry Master Roshi. I didn't mean to wake you from your nap."  
  
The Old Master let out a sigh, and giving the girl a small smile. " I know child, you just give in too easy to the moment. Just like that hot headed old man of yours!"  
  
"Daddy? Hot headed? Your kidding right?" Marron looked up from the table, questioning the old man.  
  
"Oh, he has calmed down considerably in recent years, thanks to you and your mother. But when he was a boy he had a temper that would light at the drop of a hat! I had the hardest time reining that fury in. It only got worse when he was a teenager, especially when he saw." Master Roshi suddenly cut off.  
  
"Saw who? Who did he see Master Roshi?" Marron was intrigued by the way Master Roshi just cut off his sentence.  
  
"It's not my place to tell you. He wouldn't like it if I talked about this." Master Roshi said firmly.  
  
"Why wouldn't he want me to know?" Marron was puzzled, and wanted answers to these questions that had arisen.  
  
"It is a very personal and delicate matter."  
  
Marron knew that she wouldn't get any answers from the Turtle Master this way. So she decided to pull out her secret weapon that always broke the old man.  
  
"Please?" Marron asked just as sweetly as she could, batting her lashes and posing as the poster child for innocence.  
  
Master Roshi tried to escape the sweetness of the ten-year-old girl he loved like a granddaughter by looking away. "That's not going to work this time, Marron!" Roshi said trying to avoid the onyx eyes and batting lashes, but deep down knowing escape was impossible.  
  
"Please?"  
  
Feeling all of his resolve crumble underneath the bright onyx eyes, the old master let out a sigh. "All right, all right. I'll tell you, just let me make sure the coast is clear." Roshi started to rise from his chair and to search the house for any sign of Krillian or 18.  
  
Marron giggled, "They went to see Bulma, Master Roshi. They said they were going to stay there tonight and tomorrow, have a little vacation this weekend. Don't you remember?"  
  
The old master blinked his eyes, sat back down, and then stroked his beard while trying to remember. "Oh, that's right. I thought that was next weekend. Well, I guess I'd better get us some grub, huh?" Master Roshi rose once again, trying to change the conversation.  
  
Marron would have none of this. "Master Roshi, please finish the story first!"  
  
Roshi returned to his seat again. "All right, I'll make you a deal. I'll order pizza if we can postpone this conversation for a little while, say after dinner?"  
  
Marron smiled, "It's a deal. But it better be a real good story about Daddy!"  
  
Roshi's face became serious again. "The story will be entertaining enough, but I wouldn't call it a 'good' story." He then left the room.  
  
After dinner, Roshi called Marron into the living room. Beckoning her to sit down, and then settling down himself, Roshi surprised her by asking her a question. "What do you know about your father's past, Marron?"  
  
Marron looked a bit confused, "Nothing really. He just told me that he came to the island when he was young, and trained with you and Goku, and that he grew up here around you guys."  
  
Roshi seemed perplexed. "He never told you anything about before he came to the island?"  
  
Marron thought again. "I remember him talking about a temple once."  
  
Master Roshi picked something up from beside him, handing it to Marron. "This is a picture that was made right after your father came to the island, he's wearing the uniform that he got from the temple."  
  
Marron giggled at the picture of her father at twelve years old. "He looks so cute and funny bald!"  
  
Roshi laughed, "You do know your father shaved his head until he met your mother don't you?"  
  
Marron started laughing, and managed to get out "Really?"  
  
"Yes, he was bald as a cue ball until he was smitten with your mom. She really brought about some change in him." Roshi chuckled as the girl gained her composure.  
  
"Why did you ask me what I knew about Daddy's past?" Marron tried to get the conversation back on track.  
  
Roshi took a deep breath, exhaled, and then turned to Marron. "I wanted to know if he had told you anything about.his parents."  
  
Marron was focused as a laser at this. "His parents?"  
  
Roshi looked at her, a sad smile on his face. "Specifically.your grandfather."  
  
Marron looked at the sad face of Roshi, seeing that saying that phrase caused him some sort of pain. She then crawled over and hugged him. "Mommy and Daddy have always said that I should think of you as my grandfather. "  
  
Master Roshi returned the hug, glad that he was loved and appreciated by the people he loved. "Thank you, Marron. That means a great deal to me."  
  
A moment later Roshi continued the tale, "Krillian's mother was a good woman as far as I have been able to gather. She loved him very much, at least that's what Krillian remembers. She died when he was five years old, under suspicious circumstances. Krillian always believed that.his father killed her."  
  
Marron gasped, "Why would he kill her?"  
  
Roshi's face darkened, "Because he was scum. Kyogen was his name, and he was a pathetic excuse for a martial artist. He was abusive, and hated both Krillian and his mother. He was incapable of love. My theory on why he killed Krillian's mother is that she angered him one night by protecting Krillian, and he snapped. Of course they wasn't any witnesses, so Kyogen walked away clean. He then abandoned Krillian at the temple, telling Krillian that his weakness was hampering his father's training, at that he should train at the temple if he ever wanted to make his father proud."  
  
Master Roshi took another deep breath before he returned to the story. " Krillian took to the training at the temple with a dark determination, then needing more knowledge he came to my island seeking my tutelage, even thought he was already an outstanding fighter for his age. When he came to the island I asked him why he had taken up martial arts. He said it was to meet girls, but after learning about his past I was able to see the truth behind his motivation. He wanted revenge."  
  
Marron shook her head, her eyes brimmed with tears, "No, my Daddy isn't like that! He doesn't fight for revenge!"  
  
Master Roshi held the girl by her shoulders. "Not anymore, Marron. He's changed. As I'm telling you this, I don't want your opinion of your father to change. He is, was, and always will be a good man. He just made a mistake in his youth; he let his strong emotions guide him down a path he really didn't want to take. Your father loves you more than anything, and would do anything to protect you."  
  
Marron nodded her head in understanding.  
  
Roshi looked at the ten year old girl, making sure she was all right before asking, "Do you want me to continue?"  
  
Marron wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes, I want to hear the rest."  
  
Roshi calmed himself before continuing. "Years passed and Krillian stayed under my eye for training. His temper had calmed considerably through the years, and his adventures with Goku and his other friends. I thought that I had helped him tame the temper inside him. But a dam can burst with even the smallest crack. The crack came around his eighteenth birthday."  
  
"We had just come back from Goku and Chi Chi's for a visit, and we stopped off in a small town to get some things for the house. A little street fighting competition was being held at the town. Krillian, eager for a challenge and a little spending money, decided that he would enter. The other competitors of course mocked him for his size. Krillian crushed all of his challengers, and shut up all those who doubted his skill. Then things got bad."  
  
Flashback to the street-fighting tournament.  
  
"You fight like a demon!" a startled contestant said, stepping away from the eighteen year old Krillian.  
  
"Like a demon? I don't think I fight anything like Piccolo, do you Master Roshi?" Krillian turned to the turtle hermit, placing his hand on the outside of his sash and smiling broadly.  
  
The old Master laughed at the inside joke.  
  
"So who's up next, or do I win?" Krillian turned back to the gathered fighters.  
  
"That would be me, boy."  
  
Krillian's face turned the color of blood, hands clenched into white- knuckled fists, and he got out a "It's you!" through clenched teeth.  
  
An older man walked into the fighting area, slightly taller than Krillian. Kyogen looked just like his son, except he had a scar on his chin, dark shaggy hair, and his eyes were different. Where Krillian's onyx eyes were bright and cheerful, Kyogen's were dark and harsh. "It's been a long time, boy. My how you haven't grown." The challenger sneered.  
  
Krillian brought his fists in front of him, shouting. "Bastard! Finally you reared your damn head! Finally I'll make you pay!"  
  
Kyogen remained in a neutral stance, still sneering, "Pay for what, shrimp?"  
  
Krillian was breathing hard, the fury possessing him completely. "For what you did to her! And for what you did to me! I will make you pay! Ten drops of your blood for every tear you made her shed! Today, I set things right!" Krillian was screaming now.  
  
Master Roshi rushed over to his student, seeking to calm Krillian and find out what was going on. "Krillian! What are you doing! Calm down!"  
  
"Stay out of this Roshi! It doesn't concern you!" Krillian snapped at his master.  
  
Kyogen turned to Master Roshi, "Let the boy go old man, let me see what my son can do against a real fighter!"  
  
Master Roshi turned back to Krillian, ignoring this new revelation because he know all about him, trying to rein his student in before he did something he would regret forever. "Krillian, no! This isn't what I taught you, you don't believe in revenge! "  
  
Krillian's only response was the powering up of his ki, simultaneously letting out a cry that was filled with thirteen years of horrible pain.  
  
Roshi was blasted away from his student's ki field, tumbling a good ten feet away. "Krillian! No!" he shouted, righting himself.  
  
But it was to late; Krillian was already flying towards his stunned and now frightened father, hate and anger burning in his eyes.  
  
The first punch landed by Krillian broke Kyogen's jaw. The follow-up kick broke four of Kyogen's ribs on the right side of his body. The blows came down like rain once the older fighter fell to the ground.  
  
Master Roshi rushed over again, this time physically ready to stop his student's vicious attacks.  
  
"YOU WILL PAY!" Krillian shouted over and over again with every punch that he threw. Kyogen was a bloody, unconscious pulp just absorbing the blows by this time. Krillian didn't notice that his enemy had stopped fighting back, and in his rage increased the strength of the attacks.  
  
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Master Roshi yelled while throwing a punch into Krillian's face, catching him completely vulnerable.  
  
Krillian staggered away from Kyogen because of the blow. Shaking his head, Krillian looked up at his attacker, not recognizing his master, completely enthralled in his bloodlust.  
  
Roshi dropped his guard, thinking he had stopped the rampage. "Krilli.." That was all he got out before he was attacked.  
  
Krillian was punching and kicking wildly, completely rapped up in the moment. Roshi was hard pressed to block these attacks, and several got through his defenses. Roshi was reeling from a roundhouse kick when he felt a ki stronger than his attackers.  
  
Krillian was suddenly seized from behind by two powerful arms, holding him in place off the ground while he struggled and yelled.  
  
"Krillian! What's gotten into you?" Goku yelled over Krillian, struggling to hold his best friend still.  
  
"Keep him still, Goku! I'll help him calm down." Master Roshi rose from the ground, and placed his hands on either side of Krillian's face. "Look at me Krillian! Look at me!"  
  
Krillian still struggled, but slowly calmed down enough to recognize his friend and master. He suddenly just went limp in Goku's arms, not struggling at the least, realizing what he had done.  
  
"Let him go, Goku. It's okay." Master Roshi said.  
  
Goku slowly let Krillian down to the ground, careful to stay close enough in case something went wrong.  
  
Krillian sunk to his knees, and then dazedly looked over at Kyogen. He was being attended to by the fight doctor, who signaled that he was alive.  
  
Krillian started to rise, some anger returning at the sight of his father still breathing. Master Roshi grabbed him on the shoulder.  
  
"We're going home. Now."  
  
Krillian nodded his head, still in his dazed state, and started to fly towards Kami Island.  
  
Master Roshi then turned towards his other pupil, wiping some blood off of his split lip. "Thank goodness you showed up."  
  
Goku looked at the doctor working on Kyogen. " I was at home, then I felt this terrible surge in Krillian's ki. I came as fast as I could. What happened here, Master?"  
  
Roshi looked down at the bloody mess that was Kyogen. "Some would call it justice, for others.an injustice because the job wasn't finished. That is Krillian's father, Goku. A terrible excuse for a human being. He killed Krillian's mother."  
  
Goku looked over angrily at this complete stranger.  
  
Master Roshi walked over and bent down next to Kyogen, who had just regained consciousness. He whispered. "He is better than you will ever be. I won't let him stain his pure soul by taking your life. Show your face ever again, and I will kill you." He then turned to the judge and got Krillian's prize money. With a thank you to Goku, he got in his air car and left.  
  
Back to present.  
  
Marron just looked at Master Roshi. A minute later she regained her ability to speak. "That all happened to Daddy?"  
  
Roshi nodded. "Yes, many years ago. He got over the shock of what happened that evening. He begged my forgiveness, asking me not to send him away. I told him forgiveness was something he did not need to seek from me, but from himself. A few days later he did something I never would have expected. He came back from the cemetery that his mother was buried at, and said that he had made his peace with his family. I had to ask, if that meant his father as well. He said to me. 'I've come to peace with what he did, I will no longer seek revenge, but some things are unforgivable.'"  
  
Roshi turned to Marron, "He learned to harness his anger, and he became a true martial artist the day he gave up the selfish pursuit of vengeance. Your father never trained you because he never wanted you to learn to make peace the way he did, with blood on your hands."  
  
Marron nodded, and smiled. "That makes a lot of sense, but I still want to learn the martial arts, Master Roshi. But for a different reason now."  
  
"What reason is that, Marron?" Roshi seemed puzzled.  
  
"I want to keep up the family tradition."  
  
"Tradition?" Marron smiled, "You, Mommy and Daddy are all great martial artists. It just runs in our family, and I want to continue it. I want to use them to make the world a better place, just like my father, and my grandfather."  
  
Roshi smiled back. "Well, now that is a good reason. As a matter of fact, I think you are mature enough to start training. But you must start just like your father and Goku did."  
  
Roshi stood, stretching his back.  
  
Marron looked up excitedly. "I'm ready for the first lesson!"  
  
"You must complete a few tasks before you receive any training." Kamesennin picked up his cane.  
  
"What do I do first, Master Roshi?" Marron stood and bowed.  
  
Roshi smirked. "Your first task to become my student is to go get me a pretty girl!"  
  
"HUH?"  
  
The End  
  
Thanks for reading. Review and tell what you think! 


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